Chris Rock

West Hartford's Faxon Branch Library has a film and discussion series called "Race Matters," co-sponsored by the West Hartford Initiative on Racial and Ethnic Diversity. As the latest event in the series, it will screen a documentary by Chris Rock. In "Good Hair," the popular comedian examines how peer pressure and cultural conditioning go into the choices black people make about their hair. The movie, rated Pg-13 and lasting 96 minutes, will be shown Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at the library, 1073 New Britain Ave. At the event, participants will be asked for suggestions for next year's "Race Matters" series.

West Hartford's Faxon Branch Library has a film and discussion series called "Race Matters," co-sponsored by the West Hartford Initiative on Racial and Ethnic Diversity. As the latest event in the series, it will screen a documentary by Chris Rock. In "Good Hair," the popular comedian examines how peer pressure and cultural conditioning go into the choices black people make about their hair. The movie, rated Pg-13 and lasting 96 minutes, will be shown Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at the library, 1073 New Britain Ave. At the event, participants will be asked for suggestions for next year's "Race Matters" series.

You knew things would be different for this Oscar show when the audience stood to applaud Chris Rock before he said his first word. Just the hiring of the brash young comedian was supposed to send the message that the 77th Annual Academy Awards would differ from the staid film industry events of the past, bring in audiences that had been disappearing from awards shows and re-energize things at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre. For proof, Rock invited the bejeweled, overdressed stars of Hollywood to take their seats by saying, "Sit yo' asses down!"

MUSIC In 1986, the South African male chorus Ladysmith Black Mambazo brought its distinctive vocal sound to Paul Simon's acclaimed "Graceland" album. Their collaboration on the songs "Homeless" and "Diamonds on the Souls of Her Shoes" introduced Ladysmith to a worldwide audience. Joseph Shabalala began the group, which sings in traditional Zulu harmonies called isicathamiya. They released their first album, "Amabutho," in 1973, winning accolades in South Africa. A new DVD combines live performance with Shabalala and other chorus members' describing the group's history.

If comedy can be measured in purely physiological terms, there are few comics around as funny as Chris Rock, who had his audience gasping for air between heavy laughs at the Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford Friday night. The Brooklyn-born Rock, who first came to fame on "Saturday Night Live," showed himself as a worthy successor to the kind of uproarious comedy of Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy with a cool and funny standup performance. Rock literally leapt onto the stage in front of a huge backdrop of the Colorado Rockies logo that also coincidentally spelled out his initials.

On the liner notes of his new comedy album, Chris Rock thanks "everyone that gave me work when nobody was thinking about me." It wasn't as if nobody was thinking of him when he stopped being a cast member of "Saturday Night Live" after the 1991-92 season. Rock popped up in occasional movie bit parts and even on the show that was his one-time competition, "In Living Color." But following the success of his HBO special last year, "Bring the Pain," he's been compared with Richard Pryor and Lenny Bruce and hailed as possibly the funniest comedian around.

RUNNING WITH SCISSORS "Weird Al" Yankovic Volcano/Zomba Recordings BIGGER & BLACKER Chris Rock DreamWorks Records This summer's two most popular comedy albums, as different as they are in approach, both produce essentially what their fans expect. The formula is most evident on the new work from "Weird Al" Yankovic, who has become a staple on Radio Disney (where a good song parody is appreciated) and whose hair has gone from bad to worse. Add a hit song to premise, and off you go. Just as "Star Wars" lives off its sequels, so does Yankovic top his previous "Yoda" with "The Saga Begins," essentially a retelling of the new "Phantom Menace" to the tune of "American Pie" (the Don McLean song, not the hit movie of the same name)

Cool artists like Mighty Mighty Bosstones, the Fugees and En Vogue celebrate 30 years of "Sesame Street" music with "Elmopalooza!," Friday at 8 p.m. on ABC (locally on WTNH-TV, Channel 8). Despite the lame name, "Elmopalooza" should be worth watching. Rock and pop stars have been hanging with Jim Henson's Muppets for years, giving the show a hipper edge than other children's programs (can you really see the Bosstones singing along with Barney the Dinosaur?) Jon Stewart hosts the show with appearances by Rosie O'Donnell, Chris Rock, Cindy Crawford, Tyra Banks and others.

Richard Pryor was blunt, blue and brilliant. His audacious style influenced generations of stand-up artists, from David Letterman and Robin Williams to Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock. He was called a genius by some, a self-destructive madman by others. He became one of the highest paid stars in Hollywood, and was one of the first black performers with enough leverage to cut his own deals. He died after a heart attack at his home in California. See Page A18.

After playing a reincarnated white geezer in "Down to Earth" and directing himself as a presidential candidate in "Head of State," Chris Rock took a role more of us could relate to: a bored husband with a roving eye. The question is, will the husband's feet follow? "I Think I Love My Wife," opening this month, allowed the multiple-Emmy- and Grammy-winning comic to bring his persona down to earth. "I think I'm funniest as a real guy," he says. "That's the discovery I've made through this movie.

If the heralded comedy "Everybody Hates Chris" hasn't made a huge impact on ratings for UPN, it still has added a lot of respect. The highest-rated comedy in the network's history has also earned its first Golden Globe nomination and another nomination from the NAACP Image Awards. Despite all the acclaim, co-creator Ali LeRoi says, the show just looks good compared to everything else. "We're stellar compared to all the crap out there," he says, only partly joking. LeRoi says they're trying to write real stories about a real family.

Richard Pryor was blunt, blue and brilliant. His audacious style influenced generations of stand-up artists, from David Letterman and Robin Williams to Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock. He was called a genius by some, a self-destructive madman by others. He became one of the highest paid stars in Hollywood, and was one of the first black performers with enough leverage to cut his own deals. He died after a heart attack at his home in California. See Page A18.

I like Chris Rock. His ribald language, gratuitous profanity and off-color jokes about politics and race inject levity into his unique social commentary. Though he doesn't always hit the mark, he's certainly entertaining. But I wouldn't want Chris Rock as a police captain or sergeant in my police department. And I sure wouldn't want members of the department's higher ranks making like Rock -- even if it is on their own time. Be honest -- when Rock punctuates his monologues with an indignant "Nigga, pleeze," it can be funny and mostly unoffensive.

Chris Rock never appears in his great new sitcom "Everybody Hates Chris" (UPN, 8 p.m.), but he's never far away, either. He narrates nearly every scene in that familiar voice of his monologues -- that slightly elevated, outraged tone -- putting a personal imprint on what is, after all, his own story: growing up in Brooklyn in the '80s. Adapting the same timing he uses in his rock-solid monologues basically assures the laughs. How is this any different from any family sitcom about an African American family?

The one new fall show we can recommend without reservation starts tonight on the once lowly UPN. "Everybody Hates Chris" takes its name from Emmy-winning "Everybody Loves Raymond," and the new comedy from Chris Rock deserves to be in the same company. At a time when it seems there is nothing new to be said in a family sitcom this one offers something new: honesty. It's helped by a strong lead in young comic actor Tyler James Williams. See "TV Eye," Page D2.

The one new fall show we can recommend without reservation starts tonight on the once lowly UPN. "Everybody Hates Chris" takes its name from Emmy-winning "Everybody Loves Raymond," and the new comedy from Chris Rock deserves to be in the same company. At a time when it seems there is nothing new to be said in a family sitcom this one offers something new: honesty. It's helped by a strong lead in young comic actor Tyler James Williams. See "TV Eye," Page D2.

Will electronic music make guitars obsolete? We find out Tuesday, when the techno-rock duo Chemical Brothersreleases its second album, "Dig Your Own Hole" (Astralwerks/Caroline). Also expected in stores this week: "Retreat From the Sun" the second album from the duo That Dog, whose members sometimes pop up in the group the Rentals. Funnyman and AT&T pitchman Chris Rock releases a comedy album, "Roll With the New" (DreamWorks). And a 2 million-selling hit soundtrack begets a second helping in "Romeo & Juliet, Vol. 2" (Capitol)

MONDAY "PRISON BREAK" (Fox, 9 p.m.) -- The toughest drama of the season (which began Monday) has Wentworth Miller starring as a determined young man who purposely lands in prison to spring his wrongly convicted brother (Dominic Purcell). It's meant to have the teeth of "24," but it has little of its velocity. And it's questionable where the story will go once they are (or are not) sprung. Started Aug. 29. "KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL" (Fox, 8:30 p.m.) -- "Sex and the City" producer Darren Starr creates a chaotic sitcom from Anthony Bourdain's tell-all book that's fast moving, grown-up and set in a different place than most workplace comedies: a restaurant.

It's not a good sign for the new TV season that it was so difficult to find five shows to champion from among the 30 new titles broadcast networks are offering. It was only a coincidence -- and certainly not out of any sense of fairness -- that each one of the networks finds its way to the list (sorry WB, though "Just Legal" just missed). The top one jumped right out. "Everybody Hates Chris" (UPN, Thursdays) is in many ways a conventional coming-of-age drama, but what sets this apart from everything before is the honesty of the approach, the underlying love in the family and primarily the voice of creator Chris Rock, who although he doesn't appear, has his stamp all over this fine entry.